CAMINO
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)

CAPSULE: What at first appears to be a film making a
serious political statement gives up the effort and
becomes a standard jungle action movie. It is not
really bad for a chase in the jungle movie. It just
fails to do much unexpected. Rating: high 0 (-4 to +4)
or 5/10

CAMINO begins as if it is going to be making a serious political
statement about international politics and Europe and America's
possible complicity in South American troubles. One can follow the
story with the best of expectations, but at the halfway point of
the film it turns into an action film with less interest in making
a statement than in being a one-dimensional and gory action film.

One clue might have been that the main character is played by
stuntwoman and actress Zoe Bell. She is not known for statement
films other than those making the statement that men do not have a
monopoly on action roles. Incidentally, apparently Bell is popular
with Quentin Tarantino as she has been in an incredible eleven of
his films. You know for sure that this film is not even trying to
be serious when you have women on the run from a war criminal who
commits atrocities and somehow they find the time to argue over
whom he loves. In spite of the film's more ridiculous moments,
Bell adds some stability to the narrative.

Bell plays Avery Taggart, a prize-winning international photo-
journalist. She is given the assignment of covering a missionary
leader fighting in Colombia for liberation. Sadly once she gets to
Colombia the plot gets rather transparent. Of course the trailer
makes the upcoming plot just as obvious. The script seems
underwritten and is a rush job, reportedly written in just two
days. While the film seems to want to deliver a message, when it
finally comes out it is that one very-fast-healing woman
photojournalist can out-think and out-fight a band of atrocity-
committing men from the liberation forces. Nacho Vigalondo plays
the guerilla leader Guillermo. He somewhat over-powers his role,
but that may really be a necessary part of Bell's motivation.
Taggert goes from one fight to another spilling a lot of red-orange
blood and then quickly recovering on the run. None of this is
Bell's fault and she certainly stands out as the best thing in the
film.

Josh C. Waller directs from a script by Daniel Noah. The chase in
the screenplay seems to have been cobbled together from used parts
available from better (and worse) films. The film is neither as
serious nor as entertaining as it was trying to be. The road in
CAMINO is one well-traveled. I rate it a high 0 on the -4 to +4 scale
or 5/10. CAMINO is on VOD and iTunes as of March 8, 2016.

Film Credits:
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4991652/combined>

What others are saying:
<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/camino_2016/>


Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 2016 Mark R. Leeper

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

CAMINO (2016)
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2016 David N. Butterworth

** (out of ****)

"Sorry. I'm not that good at this kind of thing," claims photojournalist
Avery Taggert, accepting a prestigious plaque in the opening minutes of "Camino." Giving speeches, she means, thrust under the spotlight. She'd
much rather be scrabbling about in the undergrowth working her magic,
snapping away.
Critics bent on slamming Zoe Bell, who plays Avery, could easily argue that the stuntwoman-first, actress-second isn't that good at this kind of
thing either, that one doesn't send a stuntwoman into the rainforest to do
an actor's job. But they'd be missing the fact that this kind of thing
mostly amounts to Bell being slapped around in the wilds of Colombia; she's certainly well versed at taking a punch in the ribs, or a boot to the face.
In that regard, this Noah/Waller picture is neither taxing nor
terribly potent.
Bell, who hails from New Zealand, is perhaps best known for playing herself in Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof," in which she spent most of
her screen time strapped to the hood of a 1970 Dodge Challenger as it
careened through the Texas countryside. She actually has more credits for acting than stunt work, although she's rather blase' with that umlaut.
After accepting her Photojournalist of the Year award, "Camino"'s wily protagonist is courted (by Kevin Pollak) to accompany a squad of shady missionaries led by a charismatic Spaniard known as El Guero (Nacho
Vigalondo, a little hammy for my tastes) into the jungles of South
America. There she captures an atrocity on film that puts her life in danger--cue running and jumping and bloody fisticuffs. While no Meryl
Streep (and to be fair, Streep never doubled for Lucy Lawless in a "Xena"
fight scene), Bell exudes a confident charisma. That scalene nose of hers certainly helps. The film is also assisted by a throbbing electronic score
by Kreng, some deft and colorful transitions, and striking images courtesy still photographer Zoriah Miller that serve as Avery's impressive portfolio.
As for the Camino of the title, Avery drives a bright blue model in a delightful scene. She smiles wryly, the sun streaming in through the
windows, highlighting her killer profile. I guess "Camino" sounded more romantically Latin than Vanagon.

--
David N. Butterworth
rec.arts.movies.reviews
butterworthdavidn@gmail.com

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)